Just the usual
by Fin-eleven
Summary: James and Minerva fight. Everywhere, every day, for every possible reason. They fight and they get detention, over and over again.They set each other off like explosives. Can they ever get along peacefully? Find out how a single blush can change everything. Rated T for swearing
1. Chapter 1 letters home

Disclaimer: **I do not own a thing, just Minerva and Ellen**

Ch 1 LETTERS HOME

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_Here everything is fine, classes are going well and I've managed not to get detention this year, though I can't say the same for James, Fred and the rest of the family._

_James and Lily asked me to write you for them, since they're busy cleaning the Hall again as punishment._

_James's fine, he just keeps pranking and fighting with this girl in his year, yesterday he made her pumpkin juice blow up and she hexed him, I'm not really sure what spell she used, but James was hanging upside down above the Griffindor table._

_I guess I'll just ask her._

_Lily is fine too, though she keeps getting a little too much attention from boys lately, last week she had to hex this Ravenclaw idiot because he wouldn't leave her alone, later I think James and I will give him a piece of our minds._

_Don't worry I'll make sure we're not caught._

_Love, see you at Christmas._

_Al_

Harry Potter read his son's letter with amusement, when he finished he started laughing, the irony of his other son being on the receiving end of his grandfather's favourite spell in his prankster days was not lost on him.

When his wife walked in the room he asked her "Did you read this?"

"Yes, sounds interesting, doesn't it?" she said with a beaming smile.

"Sure does. When you answer just make sure to ask him if the girl is a redhead."

_Dear James,_

_We received Al's letter, but we answered the three of you separately. I would be really happy if you stopped getting detention, just enough to have a nice, regular correspondence._

James could feel the "or else ..." at the end of the sentence loud and clear, he went on reading.

_We heard about this girl you're always fighting with and we got curious, is she pretty? Or clever? Which house is she in? We really want to meet her, do you think you could manage to bring her over at Christmas? With all your other friends, of course, we don't want to embarrass either of you._

_You Father wants to know if she's a redhead._

_Hope you're well._

_Love, _

_Mum._

James finished reading his mother's letter and a nasty feeling settled in his stomach, why, for ol' Merlin's pointy hat, did they want to know more about Minerva Hill, his resident poltergeist?

And why the hell his father wanted to know her hair colour?

It was almost as if they thought ...

James got distracted by a couple of shouting voices getting trough the portrait hole, his cousin Rose and Malfoy were fighting again, their relationship was starting to annoy the sunlight out of him, they yelled, they bickered, then, as if nothing happened, they were found snogging in some dark hallway. Could they not be like any other couple?

It was already bad that he was a _Malfoy,_ for crap's sake, why did they have to be an annoying bickering couple like his Aunt and Uncle?

Then realization dawned.

...

this is my first fanfic, please let me knw what you think abut it, also if you find mistakes point them out, english is not my first language


	2. Chapter 2 Stopping the unstoppable

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, just Minerva and Ellen**

Ch 2 STOPPING THE UNSTOPPABLE

James Sirius Potter walked in his least favourite place at Hogwarts to find his least favourite Gryffindor with decision, they could not be victims of the circumstances, or of his parents misguided thoughts, they would not end up like _that!_

He strode past the bookshelves till he found the blonde head he was looking for then, not waiting for her acknowledgement, he sat in front of her and stated: "We have to stop bickering."

She didn't even rise her head "You don't expect me to answer that, do you?"

"It's for our own good."

Minerva Hill sat up in her chair and put her chin on her hand, her gray-blue eyes were filled with disinterest.

"How so?" God, could she be more haughty?

"Every pair I know who constantly bickers has ended up together. We. Have. To. Stop."

She raised a eyebrow and the disinterest in her eyes shifted to scepticism.

"Why, do you suddenly think the black eye I gave you last week was a sign of affection?"

_Way to go, Potter, this is so not working ..._

"No, but ..."

"Then I am unclear on your meaning."

Oh, how he wanted to mess up that cool and collected exterior of hers, he knew she had a temper, a very bad one at that, and a foul mouth if he pissed her off, so her aloofness really rubbed him the wrong way.

"Well, take Rose and Malfoy for example ..."

"Stop right there, Potter. There is no need to get your knickers in a twist, that's completely different."

When she didn't continue, he knew she was doing it for no other reason than to annoy him. And it worked. Boy, did it ever.

"Care to enlighten me?" he snapped after a while, her answer was a knowing smirk, then she said: "Rose and Malfoy bicker, he calls her a boring bookworm, she calls him an arrogant git, they say they hate each other and the next day they'll be found snogging in a cupboard.

You and I flat out fight, you call me a boring spoilsport, I call you an arrogant bastard, you prank me, I hex you, we both get detention. How is it similar?"

After her ever-logical explanation he felt kinda stupid, but he still couldn't shake the nagging feeling he had had the whole day after reading his mother's letter, so he still wasn't convinced.

"I say we stop anyway, better be safe than sorry!"

"Are you really that stupid, Potter?"

He glared at her, she glared back then she added: "Didn't we just bicker? Of course, nobody was insulted that much and we didn't get our wands, but still you think we can stop the unstoppable?"

Now that was another way to see it.

That evening at dinner he sat in front of his cousin/best friend/ prankster buddy Fred and happy to be far, far away from Hill he asked: "Do you think Hill and I can stop fighting?"

Fred nearly choked on his roasted potato and then coughed "Are you mental, James? All she has to do is walk in a room and you set each other off like dungbombs, not that it isn't kind of entertaining , but it doesn't exactly bode well for your relationship."

Rose then, being the nosy cousin she was, butted in "You know, I like Evie very much, it would be nice if you actually started getting along with her."

"If you think it's that easy, why don't you try to stop bickering with Malfoy?" said Fred wisely.

Rose had at least the grace to blush, and she said "Well, it is difficult, but wouldn't it be better if you were friends with one of the rare people who treats you like your own person?"

At that James had to reluctantly agree, it wasn't like he didn't enjoy the attention that being Harry Potter's son got him, but sometimes it was painfully obvious that people though the only good thing about him was his name; Albus had his great smarts, Lily was one of the prettiest girls in her year, and he was the prankster who was only good at Quidditch.

Speaking about Quidditch ...

"When did Wood say we had Quidditch practice?"

"Tomorrow morning, mate, and don't be late or God knows how long she will take to scold you." Said Fred, referring to Eve Wood, the Griffindor team's keeper and captain, her lectures were starting to be as legendary long as her father's in his Hogwarts years.

James sighed defeated, he really was not a morning person.


	3. Chapter 3 Brooms and pink hair

**Disclaimer: as usual I do not own a thing, only Minerva and Ellen**

Ch 3 BROOMS AND PINK HAIR

Minerva reluctantly woke up when her roommate and best friend Ellen sprayed her with water yelling

"Get up, Evie! Wood will skin us if we're late!"

_This is what you get for being Griffindor's Chaser, Hill; should have known better than to join the team._

"C'mon Len, it is six in the morning!" she groaned dragging her blanket up to her ears.

"Well, practice is in fifteen minutes!"

Minerva noticed that Ellen was starting to sound more and more like her mother, it was not a good sign, it usually meant that she had a dirty trick up her sleeve to get her way, so she prepared to give in.

"Minerva Anne Hill, get up this very minute or I'll let Potter in our dorm to prank you every day till Christmas!"

And with this Minerva knew she had lost, Len didn't go for empty threats and Potter would just love the chance to annoy her every day, she dragged herself up to sit on the bed and slowly made her way to the bathroom with no will whatsoever to get to practice, it didn't help that the weather was typically November-ish, with big, fat rain drops falling everywhere and the cold wind blowing.

It was even worse when they finally made it to the Quidditch field, since it was pretty far from the castle, they resembled drowned rats by the time they got on their brooms, and it didn't get much better while they were playing: the quaffle was slippery, the Beaters, Ellen and Fred, couldn't seem to hit the bludgers right, sending them everywhere but where they wanted them to go because of the rain, and Albus gave up finding the snitch halfway because of the nearly nonexistent visibility.

All in all it was a pretty bad practice and everyone was irritated and depressed when Eve Wood finally declared it over, only Potter could bait her when she was in such a mood, as soon as their feet touched the ground he strode toward her under the downpour shouting "What the hell was that, Hill?"

"What was what Potter?"

"I was going to pass you the quaffle and you fled!"

"You wanted to pass me the quaffle while a bludger was coming my way! How was I supposed to catch one and dodge the other?"

"Now, that's a nice excuse Miss Hill, makes me wonder if you make them up while you sleep!"

"What are you trying to say Potter?" At this point they were yelling in each other's face. And very close to getting their wands out.

Ellen got between them swiftly saying "Stop taking your frustration out on the other, you two! If you don't knock it off, I swear I'll curse you!"

James and Minerva both backed down a bit, but not before shooting death glares to one another, then when Ellen finally made her way to the changing room, Potter said "We are not finished, princess."

"Who's a princess, you arrogant prat?"

Only Minerva Hill could take "princess" as an insult, James thought, and in a way he had meant it like that, because he knew she would be annoyed by it.

"What a foul mouth, Miss Hill, really not ladylike at all."

He was taunting her, he didn't even know why, really, it was sort of a daily routine for him trying to get a rise out of her, she bugged the hell out of him and he was starting to get frustrated, because that was something he didn't understand.

"Why you insolent, childish, insufferable, annoying jerk! I know I'm not ladylike, thank you very much, as if a lady would do this!"and with that she changed his hair to pink, stomping off after making sure to hit him in the gut with her broom. "And thank God I didn't go for your bollocks!" she spat throwing an angry glance at him over her shoulder.

James stood there dumbfounded thinking that maybe he had gone too far, or maybe he had hit a nerve, but he had to admit, at least to himself, that he liked pissing her off, she forgot to be polite when he annoyed her, and she dropped the "Potter" at the end of her sentences, also looking at her dark blonde hair whirling on her golden and red robes, he knew he flat out liked her, even when she insulted him, because at least, when she listed all his flaws, he was sure she was looking at James and not at THE Harry Potter's son.


	4. Chapter 4 Stairs and blue hair

**Disclaimer: as always If you like Harry Potter Universe go thank J.K. Rowling, I own nothing**

Ch 4 STAIRS AND BLUE HAIR

Minerva was in a foul mood, Potter had pissed her off, true, but this went beyond the usual annoyance, this vicious and dark feeling did not come from her anger, it came from the knowledge that even after being called a tomboy for sixteen years, _his _words could touch her! She was pissed, she was furious, why of all people she had to care what he thought?

Why had she to still be so hung up about such a childish insecurity?

She was intelligent, she knew logically that her insecurity came from the unspoken desire to be called pretty, or be considered a full-fledged girl, and not the foul mouthed, clever, impulsive tomboy that she was, the Sorting hat had not considered to put her in Revenclaw for nothing, but still even being aware of that, she could not get completely rid of that secret wish, and she was angry that he, unknowingly, could use it against her.

Because, yeah, if she was honest with herself, it wasn't that she hated Potter, she just didn't know how to deal with him, so she was cold and polite with the exception of when he annoyed her, or pranked her, or when he fought with her, in those moments she knew very well how to deal with him: she went for the throat with as good as she got.

She was interrupted with her musings when a group of five or six girls stood in front of her at the Gryffindor table, a couple of them were Revenclaw, the rest were girls of her own house, she knew them to be in the James Potter fan club, so she just waited for them to state their business with her, knowing very well that she would not like where this was headed.

While she waited she kept eating her breakfast, just to annoy the brats in front of her, when they still didn't speak she asked: "What do you want dimwits?"

Yeah, she knew she was mean, and she knew it was stupid to taut five girls who probably were just waiting to give her a piece of their minds about Potter's new pink hairstyle – that was a real great piece of human transfiguration, if she said so herself – but she could not help herself, she was in a bad mood after all.

The tallest of them seemed to be the boss, she bristled and then nearly yelled "Could you please come with us."

It was not a question, she noted.

Ellen, who had been engrossed in a conversation about Charms with Rose Weasley, noticed the pack of chickens who stood in front of her friend and shot her a worried glance, Minerva waved an hand at her and stood up "Wait for me in the common room." was all she said before following the other girls.

Minerva was debating if following those girls had been a wise idea, if she had stayed in the Great Hall she would probably had avoided a fight, but if she had they could have always decided to get revenge by sneaky methods, this way she could both defend herself and put an end to this idiocy; she had no illusions about what the fan girls wanted from her, and she knew it was better to get this over with quickly.

Ellen glanced worriedly at the clock in the Gryffindor common room, after three hours of waiting she was starting to think that maybe Evie had gone straight to class, but having been friends with her for six years Ellen knew that Minerva said exactly what she meant, if she had told her to wait then sooner or later she would show up ... Ellen shot up as soon as she heard the portrait hole open but when she saw Minerva she dropped to the ground like a puppet, her friend was covered in some disgusting green thing, had blue hair, a few bruises and cuts on her face and hands and held her right arm too stiffly than normal; she took a few seconds to recover but as she regained her bearings she took out her wand and started on the slippery green thing.

"_Evanesco"_

Minerva gave her a watery smile then sat down.

"Tell me every single thing." She said sitting next to her.

"Well they started with the usual – how dare you – and I gave them my you're-nuts face, then they started their tirade on how sly I am because I pretend to hate Potter but I'm just in love with him, how mean I am because I treat poor Prince Charming like he's dirt and really I am the one who's just slime etc ... and I just talked my way around them, when they noticed how stupid I made them sound they tried to use a silencing charm on me, all five of them, of course I deflected all five but I got this" she pointed to her hair "Because one was quick and clever enough to get around my shield. Now that I think about it I really like this colour, maybe I'll go thank the little Ravenclaw brat later ..."

Ellen then hit her "Stop changing the subject, and don't go out of your way just to get back at them."

Minerva just shrugged and smirked "Well, honey, they have to know what they're messing with." Then added "Anyway I was walking away, after making a cutting remark and smirking at them of course, when I think one of the brat pushed me from the stairs in the green puddle the Slytherins made yesterday, you know that horrid prank they pulled on the Hufflepuffs, and I got the bruises, the cuts and the disgusting green stuff. A nice day, huh?"

While they were talking the common room started to get crowded, nobody asked anything, they just assumed Hill and Potter had exchanged blows again, since one had blue hair and the other pink hair; the only one who got close was Rose who just said: "You know, I didn't get the chance this morning but I really like the colour of James hair." Then she winked and sat down next to Ellen, who just glared at Minerva before ordering "You are going to the infirmary, I don't like the shape of your right arm!"

"Do it, please."

"Alright, alright, how do I stand being your friend I'll never know." And she started muttering healing spells on Evie's hands.

Rose, curious, asked "How come you're healing her, Ellen?"

Minerva answered "Madam Pomfrey said that since I'm so good at getting injured I should learn how to patch myself up, so she banned me from the Hospital Wing save life-threatening situations."

"Oh, she did the same with James and Fred, so I try to heal them, but really I can't seem to get healing charms right."

"Maybe because you don't really want to heal them, if you think it serves them right for always getting into trouble, the spell won't be as effective, intentions are the most important thing."Ellen said "But I can't blame you, this is getting real old real fast, even if I want to be a Healer in the future." she added throwing a pointed glance to Minerva.

When Ellen got to her friend's arm she shuddered, it was broken, _she must have landed on it_ she thought.

"You should have landed on your legs, or your ass, this is broken."

"Well, I saved my neck, didn't I?"

Rose shuddered, it wasn't like James to injure someone that much, especially a girl, unless ...

"What the bloody hell happened?"

James's surprised question explained quite a lot.


	5. Chapter 5 A question of honour

**disclaimer: as usual I own nothing but Minerva, Ellen and my twisted plot**

Ch 5 A QUESTION OF HONOUR

"Nothing much, Potter, you'll just have to get me an enormous number of dungbombs." Said Minerva with an untrustworthy glint in her eyes.

Ellen could take no more, she squeezed Evie's arm till she yelped and then yelled "You are not going after them, you got that? I am not letting you break another limb because you feel you have to show James' fan club how tough you are, do you hear me?"

James in the meantime had paled then he sat and asked Ellen "What happened?"

"Why aren't you asking me, Potter?"

"Because I know you, Hill, and you won't answer. So Ellen, what happened?"

She told him and the only words that came to mind were "I'm so–"

"Don't try it Potter, if dimwits decide to worship you it is not your fault, if said dimwits decide to act as weak bullies it is still not your fault, unless you told them to." Hill looked at him "Did you?"

"God no!"

"Then it's settled."

So simply she had comforted him when it should have been the opposite, what could he do? He was only good at getting people into trouble, for crissake, could he do anything useful for once?! Goddamnit!

He must have said the last bit out loud because Rose put a gentle hand on his arm and whispered "Don't stress about it."

He looked at her, then glanced at Hill, the brave idiotic girl had her lips pressed in such a thin, hard line that they had become white, it hurt obviously, and he couldn't do anything but watch while she swallowed the pain.

He shot up, walked toward Fred and after exchanging a few words he walked out with him in tow.

Minerva watched him go, alternatively wondering what he intended to do and praying for the nauseous waves of pain to pass. She knew she was going to pass out, she could not control it, so as soon as Ellen finished with her spells she dragged herself up to the dorm and to her soft bed, she slumped on it without a care in the world.

She was too far gone to even ask herself if it was honest to God anger what she had seen on Potter's face, or if she had imagined it and how she felt about it.

Later that day or that night, she was not so sure anymore, she woke up feeling much better, the pain had dulled to a slight ache, and she didn't feel as drained as she had before, she opened her eyes to find Ellen sitting on her own bed, munching on candies while writing an essay, when she looked up from the parchment, she said: "Finally! I thought I had killed you. There's some food on your nightstand if you're hungry."

Minerva smiled at her friend and sat up on the bed reaching for the tray on her nightstand, she found roast-beef, mashed potatoes and a slice of apple pie. Her friend knew her well.

When she finished downing her food, Minerva asked Len: "What time is it?"

"It's five thirty, you snored the whole day away."

She knew Ellen was still angry and shocked about the whole stairs business, so she swallowed her own biting comeback and concentrated on retrieving all her bearings and some info on the lost day.

"How were lessons today?"

"Well, I skipped all the morning lessons, so I wouldn't know, thanks to a certain someone"

Minerva cringed.

"Anyway, Potions was nothing much, just finished yesterday's assignment; at Charms they started on the Aguamenti spell and McGonagall continued with human transfiguration, but judging from the colour of James' hair you won't have problems with that."

"Is it still pink?"

"Oh most definitely. Fred said when they went to class she was rather impressed."

"God, does she want to give me detention _again_?"

"Don't think so, she said she had no proof so she couldn't do a thing."

Relieved, Minerva changed the subject.

"Did Potter bring the dungbombs I asked him?"

Ellen made a weird face "Weell, about that ... you don't have to worry about it."

Minerva got suspicious, her friend was fidgeting way too much "Why?"

Ellen didn't answer.

"Why is it, Len?"

"James tookcareofthemalready ..."

"I didn't understand a thing, what has Potter to do with this?"

"He sorta, umh, er, well he–"

"Spit it out already!"

"Her orchestrated a huge prank on the girls who ganged up on you!" Ellen said, then with more smugness and viciousness than necessary added "I don't think they'll show their ugly mugs around anymore, bloody deserved it too! The whole Potter-Weasley clan participated, plus me and Scorpius. As Rose put it we avenged your honour."

Minerva sat there, mouth gaping open, with no idea whatsoever how to answer to that, all she could manage was : "How ... What ... But!"

"Oh, c'mon Evie! Don't be stupid you and James are friends ... in your own twisted way; you would have done the same."

When Minerva still didn't answer, Ellen whispered: "Don't lash out at him, Evie, helping you was important to him, he felt guilty and he decided you needed someone to take care of this for you, he was not wrong. Honestly, you were messed up pretty badly, you seemed ready to pass out at some point, it scared the bloody hell out of me, and him too."

Minerva nodded "I know. It's not that I don't understand something like this, still ..." a dry smirk made its way on her face "I wanted to see them go down."

Ellen laughed "Oh, you'll hear about it for so long, it'll seem like you were there with us!"

And then she launched in a detailed play by play of the whole prank, that according to what Minerva gathered was exceptionally complicated and twisted and evil, but she wasn't really listening, her mind busy trying to put every piece in its rightful place:her supposed friendship with Potter, the anger she now knew she had not imagined and the annoying unsettlement that came while dealing with him.

She probably had to ask herself a lot more questions than she had thought that morning.

...

The chapters are becoming longer and longer, so I think next one is gonna be exceptionally short, my mind's dried up


	6. Chapter 6 Grateful

Ch 6 GRATEFUL

James was sitting under a tree by the lake that evening, it was an awkward position because of both the cold and the wet earth, but he was not in the mood to move, no matter how much his ass was frozen, he needed to be in a peaceful place alone, to sort out his own bloody feelings, feelings that were starting to irritate him so much he wanted to scream.

At first he hadn't noticed a thing, and nobody had actually pointed it out so he had gone unaware for a while, then when setting the finishing touches to his master-plan to get back to the little gits who had injured Hill, Scorpius Damn Malfoy had asked: "Just a question: why are you so hung up on Hill, Potter? You're starting to sound like a overprotective boyfriend, and believe me, I know the overprotective side of you." Then looking to the other Potter-Weasley cousins added "Actually, of all of you."

Rose hit him on the shoulder.

But no amount of hits could take those words from James' mind.

When he heard footsteps he was ready to snarl whoever it was away, but when he turned he saw her, she still had a blue mark on her cheekbone and yet she looked like a queen, all proud and mighty, with her blonde hair nearly red in the late afternoon sunlight, or at least those few rays that cut through the clouds.

Could it really be that he ...

"Look Potter, you didn't have to–" he snarled for real this time and glared at her, proud I-did-not-need-your-help Hill was the last thing he needed to hear, she looked away, shook her head slightly, muttered something about bad habits and with a huge sigh, sunk to the ground next to him.

"Anyway thanks for _defending my honour, _Potter." She said looking straight ahead.

"Is that a joke?" he asked slightly annoyed with himself and his irking fast thumping heart.

"Isn't that what one should say to one's knight in shining armour?"

If she didn't shut up he was going to choke on air.

"Now, I know you're kidding. Either that or you hit your head harder than anyone thought."

She humped " Wasn't it obvious? Don't make this any more difficult than it already is!"

"And what is t_his_?" he asked not really understanding what was going on anymore.

"Just when I was starting to revaluate your intellect."

He didn't answer to that, instead he waited for a straight answer.

"I'm trying to thank you, okay? Happy now? Need me to spell it out for you?"

"No need to get this angry!"

"I'm not angry!"

"You dropped the Potter "

"Shit."

He still waited for her to speak.

"I don't like this, ok? I never liked people doing things for me, sometimes I let Ellen get away with it because she _needs_ to take care of people, so it's like I'm doing something for her. But you ... you ... I just don't know how the hell to deal with you!"

"Well, it's not like I know how to deal with you too!"

A tense and rare silence settled between them.

_That sounded like such a great confession_, James thought, _at least for us_.

Minerva was spitting mad, and it was weird really, because it looked like she had gotten angry on her own, Potter hadn't make a snide remark, well he had made _one_ ,but for them that was a brand new record, just like the fact that they had not yet insulted each other, so this irritation was something that really didn't add up in her brain.

After a while he spoke "I guess I should thank you too after all."

Minerva snorted, her trademark unladylike snort "Please, do continue."

He laughed then he did "You're one of the very few that never really gave a damn about my fami–"

"Don't insult me, Potter." She was looking at him dead in the eyes "I'm no bigot, being the famous Harry Potter's son doesn't make you any less childish, arrogant, insufferable and annoying."

"That almost sounded like a compliment, Hill."

At that, she blushed, like a goddamn eleven years-old, she just went red like a schoolgirl with her first crush ... _Oh, now wait a goddamn minute ..._

"I guess I should be grateful that someone really sees me for who I am."

When she opened her mouth to argue, he added "Who's not related to me."

In the end she didn't say anything.

And the silence settled once again, this time more peaceful and comfortable.

"You don't resent your parents for the legacy they left you?" she said some time later.

"Resent them because they saved the wizarding world? Good God, no! If anything I'm lucky to be related to such great people!"

"Well, I guess that's one of the childish reactions one could have."

"You'd be surprised by how un-childish I can be."

Minerva had a feeling he meant a lot more then she actually guessed, but she didn't say anything.

She would deal with it when the time came. If she could, that is.

And like that they watched the sun sink in the lake.

...

I won't be able to upload for a couple of months, so if anybody liked this I'm sorry.

If nobody did, then I'll just feel sorry for myself ;-)

Anyway I won't drop this so I'll come back with more!


	7. Chapter 7 Council of war

Ch 7 Council of war

**disclaimer: **as always I do not own anything.

November was over and they were a week and a half into December when Ellen noticed something was very wrong between James and Evie: they didn't fight anymore, it was like they felt so awkward with each other they preferred avoiding and being avoided in return to facing whatever was the problem.

She was thinking about that in the library a Saturday evening, when her thoughts were interrupted by the scraping of a chair, she looked up to find Albus in front of her, it was vaguely strange, they didn't talk much unless they were at Quidditch practice, because Al was a year younger and because she always felt slightly unsettled around him.

She kept repeating herself it was the Potter's messy hair, it called to her motherly instincts making her want to smooth it over, and she had not the same reaction around James because she thought of him as Evie's future boyfriend.

That was it.

That had to be it.

"Do you know what's the matter with Minerva and James, Ellen?"

Well, she also liked the way he said her name, it was kinda...

She shook her head, both in answer and to shake her distracting thoughts.

"Knowing Evie, I reckon she feels awkward, but God knows why. Probably something happened two weeks ago."

"Apart from the huge prank on James' fan club?"

"Something happened when she went to thank him for defending her." If it hadn't been strange that Evie had worked up the guts to thank her arch-nemesis, her red face when she had come back had been.

Hard to say if it was because of anger or embarrassment.

Ellen guessed that it was a bit of both.

"You have an idea about what it was? It was two weeks ago, they should have worked it out by now!"

Al raised his voice at the end of the sentence, earning numerous shushing noises from across the whole library.

Ellen shrugged, not knowing what to say.

Then a suspicion popped in her mind "Why are you so concerned about your brother?"

Albus did not lose his cool often, if ever, contrary to his over-emotional family, so his sudden interest in James and Evie's relationship really stank of ulterior motives.

Al sighed and ran his hands through his hair, Ellen had to smother the urge to comb the stray locks herself.

She shook her head again and put her hands in her lap so that they couldn't go anywhere without her consent.

When Al answered he had regained his aloofness while Ellen was seriously trying to concentrate on the subject at hand.

"Everyone's worried sick about him. They nag at me day and night to do something about my idiot brother, who is starting to turn into a pining, lovesick dimwit. And _that _freaked me out."

He finished with another heartfelt sigh.

Ellen grinned at Al's explanation, then her worrywart side took over and she said "He doesn't look lovesick to me. Why do you say so?"

"He hasn't gotten detention in two weeks, he didn't prank anyone, pick a fight, smuggle banned goods into the school or even sneak out at night. That idiot is not James anymore."

Ellen offered "Maybe he wants to stay out of trouble?" but even she was not optimistic enough to believe that, so when Al threw her a doubtful look she caved, and spreading her arms she almost barked "I know, I know, but I don't know what to do with them anymore!"

Oh, Gosh, she sounded like an annoyed mom, could she be more ridiculous? She rarely was ashamed of herself but around Al it seemed to happen all the time.

She brought herself back with a mental slap. It was not the time to get hung up about something so stupid, James wasn't the only one acting out of character, she couldn't remember the last time Evie had made a sarcastic remark or snorted or gotten into a fight.

Lately she was always distracted, well behaved and subdued and Ellen was worried, she was worried sick about her friend, that was why she had been thinking about it even before Al had brought it up.

It was time to do some serious planning and set things to rights.

After the whole lot of his cousins had saddled him with the sad duty of solving his brother's relationship problems, Al had known that the only person who could give him some insight on the matter was Ellen, pity she knew as much as he did.

However he could see the genuine concern on her face, and wondered if she was already coming up with some solution.

That was the amazing thing about that girl, she _always_ came up with something, and that was why he trusted her to be more useful than his whole family; not that they couldn't have hatched some kind of plan, but it would have been crazy and unreasonable and surely not subtle at all, given that they were dealing with two hot-headed people, they had to be very, very careful.

So Ellen was his best and safest bet.

Pity that he had the feeling that she didn't like him very much. It was rare for her not to be cheerful and warm around somebody and with him she was never either.

But he didn't mind, really.

Well, maybe a little bit.

To hell with it, yes, he minded, very much too, but he couldn't do anything about it and he didn't have the habit to worry about things he had little chance of changing. As long as he didn't know what her problem with him was he had to suck it up.

"We need more info."

"What?" he had been so lost in thought he had forgotten that she was right in front of him.

She frowned at him before repeating "We need more info."

"Which kind of info?"

"We need to know what happened, or we risk to make mistakes ant tip them off about what we're doing. I don't look forward to explaining to Evie that I'm trying to pair her up with James."

And that, Al thought, was an understatement.

"Well, what do you suggest we do?"

"Find out what's wrong with them, then we meet again so we can trade our info and come up with a more detailed plan." Ellen was speaking with a strength and precision that made him think of some great tactician of the past, he decided he rather liked where this was going, even though he was poking his nose into his brother's affairs.

He was also looking forward to his next little council of war with Ellen, but he didn't dare ask himself why.


	8. Chapter 8 Sudden realizations

Ch 8 SUDDEN REALIZATIONS

**disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

_Mum, _

_I couldn't write you sooner, because I was a little busy – you don't expect me to tell you doing what, right? – anyway, the girl I always fight with is named Minerva Hill, she's in Griffindor, she' clever, and she's pretty, I guess, I really never looked at her that closely unless we were yelling at each other._

_I'll invite her over for Christmas only if you promise me we're not going to the Burrow, I won't be able to stand Grandma's reaction to that._

_Tell Dad she's blonde._

_And for God's sake, don't assume she's my girlfriend!_

_Everything else is fine, if you want to know how your own son is doing._

_Love, _

_James_

James read his letter again before crumpling the piece of parchment and throwing it into the fire.

The more he thought about it the more it looked like he had some special feelings for someone he really shouldn't.

And it was annoying.

But he couldn't really help it.

It was all her fault!

Everything had been going well, he had been doing a pretty decent job of discarding Malfoy's pointed question two weeks ago, but that was before she went and blew all his efforts to kingdom-come.

One minute she was calling him names and the next she blushed.

She b_lushed._

She just went glowing pink in the afternoon sun.

And the world had stopped turning. At least for him.

He didn't know what to do anymore, not that he had the faintest idea to begin with, but now it was even worse: now he knew that he couldn't deal with Hill _because_ he was frustrated, all _because he liked her. _

After he realized that, he still couldn't bring himself to treat her any different.

That was how the avoidance business started.

Then he had noticed that he was not the only one doing the avoiding.

That had stung, but he hadn't said a word to Hill.

The whole school thought it was a truce of sorts, he thought it was the prelude to a disaster.

He was stuck, with no one to help him and he was starting to get desperate, he had thought more than once to ask his brother for advice, _his little brother, for God's sake!_

His pride was not going to survive this.

In a hopeless move to distract himself he had decided to answer his mother's letter, forgetting that she had asked him about the very thing he wanted to stop thinking about.

He let out a sigh, and noticed that half of his family was staring at him with concern from across the common room.

Everybody had the sense to stop looking at him and pretend they hadn't been talking about him, everybody but Rose, his sweet and annoying cousin looked like she had just decided to ask him what his problem was.

That was it.

He was going to sulk in his bed

...

Minerva was on her bed, pretending to study Charms while she stared blankly at the open book on her knees, one could say she was in a mild state of shock after she had a sudden and sad realization.

She liked Potter.

And she was not happy about it, she didn't even _want_ to like him.

Whoever said being in love was a happy and fuzzy feeling was mental, she just felt sick and couldn't even blame her dinner for it.

She had no intention of telling anyone that she suddenly discovered she had a big, fat soft spot for Potter, that was why she had waited for Ellen to go to the library to finally let herself think about it.

She didn't want to be all girlish and normal about this, and she sure as hell didn't want to let HIM know about her feelings, she was unsure whether she even wanted to admit it to herself, let alone do something about it!

But she had to face it, even after two weeks of avoidance she still looked for him in class, at breakfast, in the common room, she followed his movements at Quidditch practice, which had caused her to get an egg-sized bruise on her back when she was too distracted to avoid a bludger thrown her way, she felt like a creep and she hated the fact that she couldn't help it.

She absolutely hated feeling helpless.

Someone as bossy as hers didn't take well to feeling too much about somebody else.

"Are you doing the Charms assignment? I thought it was pretty easy, didn't you?" Minerva looked up to find Ellen in front of her, she hadn't heard her come up the stairs.

"Yeah, it's fine." She mumbled, struggling to remember what the last Charm lesson was about.

"Uh-uh, then you want to tell me why your book is open to the wrong page?" Ellen was looking at her with a knowing smile that annoyed Minerva to no end, she sighed defeated "Alright, I got distracted midway through. Or at the beginning, it's getting fuzzy."

"Very funny, Miss Smart-ass." Ellen threw her books in her trunk and started going through her clothes with a focus very unlike her.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting a cute outfit ready for tomorrow, we are going to Hogsmeade, remember?"

Oh, yeah, she had forgotten about that.

She was sure to meet Potter the next morning, then.

Why couldn't someone take pity of her and just put her out of her misery?

She slumped on her bed and groaned.

thanks to everyone who put this story on alert or as a fav. you really made my day!


	9. Chapter 9 Info is the key

**Disclaimer: as always **- man, I'm getting tired of this - **I don't own anything Harry Potter related, just my OC and the plot.**

Ch 9 INFO IS THE KEY

It was an unusually sunny day, the little snow that had fallen covered the roofs and hills making them sparkle.

_A really nice day_ Ellen thought, it was ironic that her friend had been in such an awful mood since early in the morning, and it had only gotten worse when she met James repeatedly before leaving for Hogsmeade, it seemed that just uttering a mere "Hi." was an enormous strain for both of them.

They had better do something soon.

The two girls were walking along Hogsmeade main road looking at the shop windows, or rather Minerva was pretending to look while Ellen waited for a chance to make her best friend spill her story, when Rose greeted from behind "Hello, girls!"

Ellen smiled, she liked Rose a lot, the girl not only was brilliant but also wickedly fun to be with. "Aren't you on a date with your incredibly hot boyfriend?"

Rose made a face "Apparently my incredibly hot boyfriend got roped in something by Al. You know how boys are." She winked.

"Yeah, boys and their toys." They both giggled, Evie instead was silent.

Unusually so.

They started walking again and Rose asked "So, why are you avoiding James, Evie?"

Minerva tripped and over her head Rose mouthed something to Ellen.

Just a word, "Al"

Ellen grinned, when Lily passed them by with her friends asking "How's it going with James, Evie?"and Minerva looked like someone had hit her, her smile just got wider.

Al really was a clever and ruthless ally.

"Why that smug look, Len?" growled Evie suspicious.

"Nothing, just thinking it was high time somebody pointed out the obvious." Minerva bristled, but Ellen continued "Admit it, you are in lo-!" Evie covered Ellen's mouth with her hands, effectively shutting her up, then whispered "Alright, alright! I get it, I'll talk." She looked left and right like a thief searching for an escape route and added "But not in the middle of the street."

And so they reached the Three Broomsticks, choose a table in a dark corner and sat town with their drinks before them.

After a brief silence Ellen prodded Evie "Well?"

When Minerva didn't answer but only looked a bit green, Rose asked patiently "It's not that you don't like him, is it?"

"I don't want to!" Was the sharp and clipped answer.

"I don't understand" Rose replied confused.

"Oh, I do get it" said Ellen quietely " You are in denial."

"That's not accurate" Evie spat out " I am aware of this damn thing, but it doesn't mean I like it any better!"

"You are just running away!" Ellen muttered while Rose nodded.

"Oh, I get what's your problem. I can say from experience that it's not easy to wake up one day and discover you like someone who has been your enemy for so long."

Minerva relaxed, she didn't like to talk about her feelings but it felt good to know that someone understood what she felt; and Rose should know, since Scorpius Malfoy had been her rival before they noticed they had feelings for each other.

At that thought something clicked in her mind and she remembered something Potter had said to her one evening in the library.

_"We have to stop bickering! ... Every pair I know who constantly bickers has ended up together!" _thinking about it she burst out laughing, she supposed that she wan't in that mess alone and Potter was surely even more freaked out than she was, when the girls in front of her started looking worried she explained "I was thinking of something Potter said some time ago, about not wanting to end up like you and Malfoy. I guess he's more shrewd than I thought, since we are in a worse spot."

It was like some heavy fog had been lifted from her head, she felt lighter and her thoughts were a lot clearer.

Now that Minerva felt better, she realized that she had behaved like an idiot, even if she didn't like her own feelings and she didn't want to act on them she couldn't ignore it, she just had to behave like usual, and everything would fall into place.

When she said as much, Ellen rolled her eyes and banged her head on the table on a display that was very unlike her, while Rose just laughed.

Minerva shrugged, it wasn't like they could do anything about it.

James had thought the trip to Hogsmeade meant peace from his meddling family and a break from his obsessive thoughts about Hill, he soon discovered that he had been dreadfully wrong.

The first to hassle him was Fred, their conversation started, predictably, with them discussing what they were going to buy at Fred's father's shop, when they got there, he suddenly blurted out: "Alright James, here's the thing: you like Hill, right? What, for Merlin's dirty socks, are you waiting for?"

James, who had been in the middle of unwrapping his last chocolate frog, let the candy escape with a pitiful jump and then looked at his cousin/best friend with eyes as wide as a galleon, then sputtered "What? What are you rambling about?!"

Fred shook his ginger head and gave James a brotherly pat on the back, then explained "Look, my beloved if slightly stupid cousin, you are acknowledged as a flirt, you have had your fair share of girlfriends and you are generally nice and charming around girls. Apart from one single exception."

His cousin stopped and put his hands on James' shoulders, looking at him dead in the eyes "That's why and how everybody knows you like Hill, even if you're going about it like a six-year-old would, and everybody realizes that you must like her very damn much to be forgetting to act like your charming self around her. We just figured that this idiocy wouldn't last long and you'd do something on your own."

Fred sighed, purposefully adding depth to his well-practiced piece "But you are just MESSING THIS WHOLE BUSINESS UP! So get off your arse and do something intelligent for once!"

James first thought was denial, deny everything, lie Fred's ears off and hope like hell he didn't call his bluff.

Then he thought _Do I really want things to stay this way?_

He had always believed that his constant state of annoyance around Hill was bad, but now that he knew how avoiding her like the plague felt he wasn't so sure anymore.

"I don't know what to do Fred. She's avoiding me for no other reason than the last time we met we didn't fight, and I'm doing the same because I don't know how to talk to her if we're not fighting."

"You mean when you are not hiding your feelings under a pile of insults?" said a voice behind James.

James froze, of all people why would his brother walk on him saying something so embarrassing?

"Hello Albie, don't you have something boring and bookworm-ish to do today?"

"Shut your mouth, James. You should kiss the ground I walk on, because I'm going to solve your idiotic problem." From behind a stack of fireworks' boxed came another voice "Just snog her already and be done with it!" and so also Scorpius Damn Malfoy joined the conversation.

Al knocked his best friend over the head and sarcastically pointed out "While that seems to work wonders for you and Rose, I think Minerva is a bit harder to sway."

James couldn't believe that of all the beings on this earth the ones who would advise him on his love life would be his still girlfriend-less younger brother, Rose's first and only boyfriend and Fred, the same Fred who seemed to have inherited their Uncle Ron's inability to say a coherent sentence in a girl's presence during his teenage years; and most of all he couldn't believe what he said next.

"Alright mates, what do I do?"

His brother looked at him with a pained expression and just said "Wait for the chance I give you and make your move. But for crap sake, don't mess it up."

...

Somebody please review this! PLEASE, please, PlEaSe!

Keep pushing those fav and alert buttons, people! Thank you!

anyway, I was thinking to change Minerva's name to Artemis, but I realized that is kind of a mouthful and I wasn't able to find some kind of abbreviation like Evie, so nothing will change.

To those who are asking themselves what the hell I'm rambling about, don't worry it's just some author idiotic thoughts, you don't have to read or care :)


	10. Chapter 10 Dangerous thoughts

**Disclaimer: as always I own nothing.**

Ellen and Albus were at their third secret meeting and still they hadn't found a way to put Minerva and James together.

One would think that after successfully getting both of them to admit their feelings, making them act on said feelings would be a piece of cake.

It wasn't.

And while they tried to hatch plan after plan, the two lovesick idiots had gotten back to bickering without restraint, that was why both Minerva and James were now in detention.

This time they had turned each other books into animals, and while Professor McGonagall might have been impressed with their talent for Transfiguration, she hadn't been happy when James' Potion book turned into a pigeon and nestled itself on her hat.

Turning the green fabric white, because of a natural but disgusting necessity.

On any other person's hat it would have been hilarious but McGonagall was McGonagall.

So now both culprits were scrubbing the Owlery clean as punishment.

The whole school was amazed at McGonagall merciless decision, everybody thought it was beyond cruel.

Cruel but fitting.

"We have to come up with something soon. Or they'll be able to talk themselves into believing they don't like each other. All progress will be lost!"

Al tossed back some pumpkin juice and said "Well, I don't think James can do that. My brother's more of a go-after-what-you-want type. Plus Minerva will be suspicious if we randomly throw them together into an empty room and lock the door."

Ellen sighed and slumped in the armchair she was occupying in the Room of Requirements "But that would be so much easier!" she didn't _dislike_ this delay if it meant spending a bit more time with Albus – she kept repeating herself it was just because she wanted to understand what her unsettlement around him was, yes, it was all for scientific purposes – but she wanted her friend to be happily in love, not watch her while she beat all kind of romantic feelings out of her own heart with her _bloody logic._

She winced, cursing was very unlike her.

"It doesn't help that we have a deadline. Christmas holidays are coming." Al was saying when El shouted "That's it! Christmas! Happy, wonderful Christmas!"

Al looked startled then asked cautious "Was it really just pumpkin juice in your cup?" but Ellen was not listening, she jumped upright and started talking, looking wild and a bit crazy "We'll organize a Christmas party! In the Room of Requirements, so there'll be enough space for everybody who wants to participate, this way we won't look suspicious, and we can bully Evie and James into going to the Hog's Head to get drinks, and they'll have to take the secret passage and they'll be alone, it'll be dark and narrow and we _will make sure _that at least one of them is tipsy by that point! If we fail, we can still manage to trap them there or just push them against each other. I'm even willing to use something as idiotic as Truth or Dare!"

Al thought that had anybody else started blabbing like that in front of him, he would have made some sort of sarcastic remark, made fun of them mercilessly – living with his brother had trained him in the ways of torturing poor souls – but Ellen was just …

Stunning.

Cheeks flushed, dark, crazy curls every which way, eyes sparkling with, he didn't want to think that way, but yes, there was no other word, unholy glee, she should have been frightening.

But the only frightening thing in that room was his heart rate.

It was really a pity that she didn't like him.

"Alright, alright! That's a good idea. I'll rope in everybody easily, but how are you going to get Minerva to participate?"

"Oh, I have my methods."

_Oh, now she does look scary,_ Al thought.

He really pitied Minerva in those moments.

Minerva was lazily looking through an article about the Holyhead Harpies after scrubbing the stench of the Owlery out of herself, when a mad-looking Ellen took the magazine from her and pinned her with a deadly stare.

"Christmas party. Room of Requirements. You. Definitely coming."

"No."

Elle tapped her foot on the floor, but Minerva decided she was not going to give in, parties and Ellen in the same sentence usually involved new dresses and make up and feeling like a sorry excuse of a girl while the rest of the world drunk, danced or alternatively snogged the night away.

"Minerva, are you sixteen or eighty?"

"Let me rephrase myself. Hell no."

Ellen narrowed her eyes "You are coming to the party even if I have to drag you there."

Minerva sighed, she really didn't understand the utility of parties, the whole school body was either busy bursting with anticipation of one or trying to get the consequences of one out of their systems, what a troublesome practice.

"Did I hear something about a party?"

Oh, yes, Potter was the cherry on top. He just _had _to overhear that conversation.

Ellen explained "Yes, in the Room of Requirements sometime before Christmas. Want in?"

Potter's face split in a huge grin that Minerva really wished to stop seeing, it made her feel on the verge of a heart attack.

"Of course, don't you know what kind of a party animal I am?"

"The slimy and green kind?" Minerva really couldn't help herself. Like him or not, poking at him was so much damn fun.

"That's only because later I turn into a prince." Said Potter wriggling his eyebrows.

Minerva burst out laughing. "Such a shame you don't have a princess waiting for you."

Potter turned to her with a weird depth to his eyes "What do you know, I might just do." was the surprising comeback.

Ellen stepped in gracefully, predicting the silence that would probably follow, and put in "So Evie, any chance I might not have to threaten you? Because, you know, I will."

Minerva thought for a second of Potter's answer, he obviously had a girlfriend somewhere, maybe it was a new thing so that was why nobody was talking about it, she had no intention to turn into a pining old maid.

She would dress up, go to the party, drink, dance and kiss her feelings for Potter goodbye.

"You know what, Len, this time you won't have to threaten me at all." She said with a dangerous look in her eyes and a wild night on her mind.

…

Surprisingly long chapter, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. Thank you for the reviews, they really made me happy. Keep them going, please!


	11. Chapter 11 What's underneath

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Ch 11 WHAT'S UNDERNEATH

It was late afternoon and the Gryffindor Quidditch team was practicing on the field, the snow had gotten heavier in the previous days, but luckily for them at the moment the sky was clear and the cold, freezing really, was not that much of a problem.

The practice was also going really well.

Minerva wasn't surprised, the team was fiercely competitive, and they were defending the title, no way in hell would they let the other Houses beat them.

It was a point on which she agreed with Potter. Surprising really.

She received the Quaffle and sped toward the goal hoops, she was focused only on scoring, she didn't realize that the wind had picked up and when a strong gust of wind hit her there was no avoiding being knocked on her ass.

What she didn't expect was to hit another body during the fall, Potter had suddenly moved to avoid a Bludger and was directly in her way.

So they crashed.

And they fell.

Minerva first thought after a moment of blankness was _I'm not dead._ She noticed the crunchy and wet feeling of the snow beneath her, and shivered, then she felt something poke her stomach, something definitely warmer than the snow.

Potter was sprawled across her, his elbow in her stomach, his legs tangled with hers, his head right in her line of sight, when he moved and was able to stare at her, something suspiciously like awareness flickered in his eyes.

Minerva started praying.

_Please, don't make me blush, please, pretty please, spare me the embarrassment._

Neither of them moved, and she swore she could see the tension crackling. Or maybe that was what she wanted to see.

She couldn't take anymore "Get off, Potter."

He gave her a small smile "Well, I would, if your leg wasn't gripping mine."

She realized he was right, she _wouldn't _be embarrassed "Yeah, sorry." She mumbled, moving her guilty leg.

When he still didn't get up, she hit him over the head "Move, you prat!"

"But it feels so nice here. And don't hit me, I could have a concussion." He looked so innocent she almost missed the fact that now he was almost completely _on top of her_.

She refused, absolutely refused to be flustered.

"Well, it might be nice for you, but I'm pretty cold down here!"

"Need me to warm you up?"

Was he flirting with her?! Was the idiot making a move on her while he had a girlfriend?

"Stop flirting, you morons. I don't want both of you in the infirmary before the next game!" Captain Wood's voice came like a nice cold shower that cleared Minerva's head, she half pushed Potter off her, half crawled out from under him, making _places _brush that had no business ever coming close.

She was going to die soon. Very soon, she decided.

The whole team had gathered around them, and from Ellen's knowing grin Minerva guessed they had also heard way more than they were supposed to.

Yes, indeed, death was the least painful option.

Wood continued "Alright people, practice is over. We are doing well and it would be reckless to let those two morons fly in the cold dripping wet. Let's go change."

Everybody was extremely surprised by Wood's mellow behavior, but as they say, they didn't look a gift horse in the mouth and made their way to the changing rooms without commenting.

Ellen caught Minerva by the arm and whispered "What was that all about?"

"I don't know, any other day we would have had a fight over that fall. A big one. I was even pushing for it." But Potter it seemed had been more interested in something else.

_Stop thinking about it. Don't you dare blush._

She could feel the warmth creeping up her neck and into her cheeks.

Potter's brand new attitude made her reconsider their conversation about the Christmas party two days before, maybe he hadn't meant to say e had a girlfriend, maybe he had been referring to something else...

_Don't go there._

All that pointless obsessing just made it imperative that she get rid of her feelings quickly, the party was a chance as good as any.

She was going to do it, she decided, and also very damn well.

James didn't honestly know what had gotten into him, one minute he had been freaking out because he had been all over Hill, and the next he had started flirting.

He seriously needed to get his head checked, that's what he concluded.

One couldn't avoid the girl he liked for weeks for fear of making a fool out of himself and then suddenly turn into a bloody Casanova.

Teenage hormones shouldn't work like that.

Just thinking about where he had been only a bare minutes before made warmth creep up his neck and ears – yes, he had inherited the damn Weasley blush, thank you very much – and sweat drip down his body, he felt hot, flushed and embarrassed because, damn, he really wished something like that had happened into more _private_ circumstances! Not on the bloody Quidditch field with the whole team, and half his family watching.

He turned back to where Hill was walking with Ellen, she looked like she was lost in thought, then, he didn't know what came over her, she started blushing.

Merlin, that blush of hers.

How he hated that goddamn blush, it made her look all cute and flustered and it made him want to kiss her, just to see if she could get any redder.

Of course he had a feeling that if he kissed her he would not stop for a while, so that made seeing her face a bit difficult.

But hell, would it be worth it.

All the way to the changing rooms James fought to push back any thoughts of getting his hands on Hill, he really hoped that Christmas party came soon, so he'd get a chance to catch her alone and just do something, anything - even confess his feelings – that would get him out of his current state of constant frustration.

The thought of getting Hill alone made his blood rush to his head.

And there he went again.

He decided he was going to need a cold shower.

A really cold one.

…

Wow, this was a weird one. I seriously didn't expect it to turn out this way, I had planned to write about the Christmas party but then this popped out and I decided, what the heck let's give them something of a build up to the main event. Review please!


	12. Chapter 12 Operation Idiots

**disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

Ch 12 PARTY PEOPLE

"Merlin, look at you! James is going to swallow his tongue when he sees you!" exclaimed a terribly excited Rose entering Ellen's and Minerva's room, which had for the time being been transformed in a beauty shop/spa for every girl in Gryffindor who was planning to participate in the party.

_I'd rather he swallowed mi-_

Minerva cut that though off with a vicious shake of her head, and asked in her haughtiest tone "What does he have to do with anything regarding how I look?"

Rose smiled and didn't answer, instead she went looking for Ellen, dodging mascara tubes and high heels every two steps.

Minerva sighed, she seemed to do that a lot recently, and looked at herself in the mirror, the shiny silver-blue dress with off the shoulder short sleeves and a knee-length, flowing skirt was gorgeous, her hair, for the first time in about three months, was tidy and fell on her back like a sleek blonde waterfall, she wore enough make-up to make her eyes look big and somewhat mysterious.

Unbelievable. Un-freaking-believable.

She almost looked beautiful.

What a shame that she knew that as soon as she opened her mouth the spell would break.

In her rush to make her feelings for Potter disappear she had forgotten the reason why she didn't go to parties and didn't have a boyfriend.

She couldn't flirt. Not even if her life depended on it.

Playing coy, batting her eyelashes and pouting were such foreign concepts to her that she could not even picture herself trying to do such things.

Some girls learned to flirt, some, like Ellen, didn't even need to try, when they laughed, everyone in the room naturally turned to stare at them, some, like her, had better keep their mouth shut to avoid scaring the crap out of every guy in earing distance.

Such was life.

When Ellen and Rose called out to her and told her they were going, she gathered all the confidence she could muster and followed them in the common room.

James was sitting in an armchair in the common room waiting for Fred to work up the guts to ask to the party his crush, Melanie O'Neil, a girl with black hair and a very sweet smile, when he saw movement come from the girls' dorm, he turned hoping to catch a glimpse of Hill, instead he saw Rose coming down the stairs with a too short dress – she was going to catch her death – and Ellen following her down.

He blinked surprised.

Ellen was very cute in her gold dress but what was reaaally interesting was the way his brother's green eyes were trained on her.

Little Albie was all grown up!

He had just decided to get up and tease him about it in a very brotherly fashion when, for the second time in a month, his brain stopped working.

_Dammit, dammit, dammit!_

She had no right to look that beautiful!

He couldn't even contemplate to keep his mind away from dangerous thoughts as she looked his way with those sparkling, blue eyes of hers.

He couldn't help it, he checked her out from head to toe.

If she caught him staring, or worse, positively drooling, that was her own damn fault.

Albus caught himself almost drooling over Ellen, and told himself that if he continued like that he'd kiss any chance with her goodbye, first he had to get together his brother and her best friend, then he could concentrate on getting her to like him.

Not that the first task would be all that difficult judging by the way his brother was checking out Minerva and her legs, and by the way Minerva herself was staring at James.

He wondered how in hell could they be so damn oblivious.

He looked so delicious.

Ellen was startled at her own thought.

No way, it wouldn't do.

She couldn't keep this up, he was going to find out and run away, as any sane person would, from her suddenly very, very friendly intentions.

Aww, his shirt looks so rumpled, and his hair is sticking up on the back of his head.

She honestly didn't know why she found such things cute.

It only happened around Albus Severus Potter.

It was all that goddamn James Potter's fault!

If he stopped looking at her like that, she would finally regain all her mental faculties and quit dazedly thinking just how damn hot he looked in a white shirt and those tight jeans.

Minerva prayed not to stumble on the stairs and tried, tried really hard to stop looking at Potter, but really, he was staring at her like he actually found her attractive, and as much as she wished not to, she did like the guy, so…

To hell with it, she'd stare, she'd blush and if she got her hands on some fire whiskey, she'd even kiss the guy.

After that she'd actively find something else to distract her, until her crush disappeared.

When she got at the bottom of the stairs she was so nervous she was trembling, and try as she might she couldn't stop it. In a desperate effort to hide her self-consciousness as she made her way to Potter she tilted her head to the side and raised one eyebrow, in a move that could seem flirtatious but was supposed to be taunting, and asked "Seen something you fancy, Potter?"

After the worlds left her mouth she realized just how coy that sounded.

Potter's gaze swept over her from head to toe again oh-so-slowly and he drawled "Yeah."

She flushed.

Minerva had expected some kind of comeback, a snort, something, anything but that.

When Len called out to her and urged her to get a move on she fled, immensely relieved.

Still she could feel his eyes burning on her back.

Ellen noticed things were looking up for their plan when she clearly saw how sizzling was the tension between James and Evie, after they got to the Room of Requirements, sneaking out of the Gryffindor Tower, she winked at Albus to signal the official start of the operation "get the two troublesome idiots together", operation "idiots" for short.

The plan was simple, force them to go to the Hog's Head to get drinks and then trap them in the passage for a short while, hoping hormones would help their cause.

The difficult part would be actually getting them in the passage.

"Evie, how do you think we will get the drinks in?"

Her best friend looked startled "You mean you didn't prepare them before hand? Hell, Len, that was the only thing you guys had to do!"

Ellen shrugged and smiled sheepishly, thinking that she should get an Oscar for such a wonderful performance.

"Well, there's always the secret passage to the Hog's Head."

"Oh, Evie! You're a genius. If you go get them I'll do your homework for a week!"

Ellen feared she had played the wrong card when Evie turned to her saying "Why don't you go? It would save you a lot of trouble."

"But I can't!" she spread her arms "Look at my shoes, I'll fall at the first step in the tunnel!"

Minerva reluctantly looked at Ellen's high heels and then at her flat blue shoes, her friend had a point, but she had plans for the night and missing the start of the party was not one of them.

She sighed. It all came down to one thing: could she carry out her agenda without some liquid courage?

No way in hell, that was what she decided.

"Alright, I'll go. But you owe me."

Ellen smiled and pointed to the entrance of the passage "Wait there, I'll get someone to help you."

When Ellend come back Minerva saw that her enlisted help would not be helpful at all.

Potter.

Of all people she had to get Potter.

Either her friend was a sadist or something was up.

She opened her mouth to say so but Potter cut her off "Don't tell me you want to back out? Afraid of the creepy, dark tunnel?"

Forgetting everything but Potter's taunt she answered without thought "Like hell, let's get going."

But when Potter opened the entrance for her, let her in first in an uncharacteristic chivalrous move and closed it behind him, she knew she was done for.

…

Sorry for the loooooooong wait, I had kinda the writer block. And judging by how messed up this chapter is I still have it.

Sooo, I finally got around to write the Christmas party, while I wrote I thought it would be nice to play a bit with the povs, please tell me what you think about it.

I know it's cliff-hanger-ish and there's too much thought and not enough action but I really couldn't help it.


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